Recently I heard an interview on my local NPR station KERA with musician and author Ted Gioa who wrote a book called “The Birth (and death) of Cool“. He talked about trends in culture and the public’s mindset over the past few decades and how there has been a shift recently. A shift from what was generally seen as cool and desirable in the 1980′s and 1990′s to something different today. Something less about trying to live up to some unattainable goal or status and more about exuding a since of uniqueness and personal style. Gioa spoke about the shift in marketing, and how the new generation of adults (Gen Y) will respond better to reality than to fantasy, and it really gave to cause to think about myself.

I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Jazz (with a capital ‘J’), in so many ways Jazz especially certain figures in the Jazz world exemplify what I think we all would say is cool. Miles Davis, I think is the most obvious example of this; having coined the term himself “Birth of Cool” in his 1949 Capitol Records release by the same title. There is no question that the man is cool, he set trends in music, fashion and verbage, and on numerous occasions caused me to wish I was him. Cool. I was a child of 1980′s and I remember the Nike ads featuring a “cool” shirtless Bo Jackson and the ones with Spike Lee and Michael Jordan dressed in garish Nike active wear. Their coolness sold shoes and I was sold on them just as millions of other Americans were. Even further back the fantasy and mystery of super heros created an idea or a person for people to look up to. Back them, celebrities were all beyond attractive and all had a perfect image that they portrayed to their fans. People at least wanted to believe that they were that way; something to be admired.

It seems that now, we live in the the age of the the cynical and ironic. Are you a hipster? Nerdy chic? Metrosexual? Do you wear “cool” eighties fashions and listen to Justice, or do you wear horned-rim glasses and think that Greenday are posers, or do you wear skinny ties and wish you were Donald Draper? Clothes are being dug out of the closest, musical tracks out of the archive and trends out of textbooks. Outwardly the influences of the past are everywhere, I would argue that we are in the midst of a Renaissance.

Is cool dead? I don’t know. It seems to me though, that it may be taking on a whole new meaning. I’ve read that some think the hipster sub-culture and for that matter, popular culture in general is the be-all-end-all “movement”. In that, after it reaches it’s climax (in approximately 2012 by my estimation) the world will literally implode due to the amount irony, apathy and pollution from fossil fuel burned by all the cargo ships from China bring merchandise to every Urban Outfitters in America. Okay, may be a bit of an exaggeration, but needless to say, it is fascinating how culture is changing. I’m still not completely sure where I stand on the issue but until I do I’ll sit here in my Terminator shades, drinking a martini, and listening to music from a band that you’ve probably never heard of.

Tailor-Made

The truth is that as a designer there is no way to completely predict everyone and in every way they will use your web site. As a result some strong arguments for a “context-aware” approach have been made. Designer/Coder Jeff Croft challenges responsive web design by saying:

“By and large, mobile users want different things from your product than desktop users do. If you’re a restaurant, desktop users may want photos of your place, a complete menu, and some information about your history. But mobile users probably just want your address and operating hours.”

This argument is well-founded and definitely can be proven to be the best solution for some design problems given certain circumstances. There is a time and place for a sharp focus and expansion of certain features or content types. Some would argue that that’s where a “context-aware” web experience comes in.
Coming from background of designing web apps and more recently native mobile and desktop applications there is often one question I wrestle with. Is there enough need, features, and user requirements to necessitate a full native application? Or, could the same benefit be gleaned from an improved and more flexible web experience? The same holds true for the question of whether a device-specific, “context-aware” web site is necessary. Is it worth the extra time and effort to build, when maybe half of the effort would be needed to improve and adapt your web site for mobile users? It might turn out that you have the need, but not the time to create your vision of what a tailored mobile web experience is. Enter the shining beacon of light that is responsive design.

Responsively Agnostic

A recent and recommended read of mine by Ethan Marcotte, Responsive Web Design, explains the world of fluid grids, media queries, and designing a sites with a “flexible foundation”. Essentially he suggests that you should design something (one thing) that will “work” on most devices that you anticipate it being viewed on. More than likely you won’t be able to hit every possible requirement for every Windows Phone 7 user (for example), but you’ll be able to get to most of your users what they need.
Marcotte’s approach is efficient and in the long run can save time for designers and developers alike. This device/platform agnostic approach doesn’t just serve as a “quick fix” solution to check off your “mobile presence” requirement, but it gives you a bridge to the next step. As mentioned earlier you have to examine the need and in many cases you’ll find that the needs of a designer to reach mobile users can be met with a responsive, device agnostic solution.
With the power of media queries, determining the way your site is displayed is fairly straightforward. It’s like getting a desktop, tablet, and mobile web sites all-in-one.

It Works!

The number of designers and developers using responsive web design techniques seems to be growing. This becomes evident when you visit their personal websites. Speaking as one who has been meaning to “mobile” my site for quite some time now the personal sites of “cool kid” designers such as Meagan Fischer are rather inspiring.

Her site adheres to these ideas to a tee. At most common screen resolutions she has designed a layout that best displays her content in a legible and visually pleasing fashion. By my count there are 4 different layouts: one for desktop viewing, one for larger portrait-oriented tablets, one for smaller portrait-oriented tablets, and one for phones. You can experience all of these layouts by going to her site and and resizing your window to different sizes. Thanks to media queries it is possible for her site to know what layout to display.

A Responsive Bridge to the Future

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with every new device and web browser being created, but with a responsive design, some research, a savvy developer, and perhaps a little luck you can help make the growing pains that come with testing for new things a little easier. I’m not saying that responsive web design is ultimately the best solution for every situation, but what I am saying is that it can definitely serve a useful purpose in most cases. With it you empower yourself and your website to be better experienced by most people that come across it. Even if you have the eventual need for a dedicated mobile website, a well-designed and planned responsive site buys you time to make it great with fairly minimal effort. It gives you a means to something, whatever it is you need it to be.

Originally Posted by Max Foundry – http://maxfoundry.com/blog/2011/12/07/responsive-web-design-a-means-to-something/

Ten things that I took from SXSWi this year:

• “Mobile” is becoming the new “web 2.0″
• People listen a lot better than you might think they do.
• Apple knows how to make its presence know, without officially doing it.
• Large is most popular t-shirt size at geek-centric conferences.
• The use of the words “analog” and “physical” is now necessary prefixes when describing actual objects.
• People are still impressed with a well-done letter-pressed business card.
• Not all the “cool kids” live in New York.
• Just because you are a “VIP” for an event it doesn’t mean you can get in to it.
• 80′s retro is still chic.
• Everyone loves a good meme.